WCWF

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WCWF
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding =
analog = 40 (UHF)
digital =
other_chs = WWBI-LP Plattsburgh
affiliations = ION Television
network =
founded =
airdate = September 11, 2007
location = Saranac Lake, New York
callsign_meaning = The CW Forty
(refers to unrealised CW affiliation)Fact|date=May 2008
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Channel 61 Associates, LLC
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 155 kW
HAAT = 440 m
class =
facility_id = 77515
coordinates = coord|44|9|35|N|74|28|33|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage =

WCWF is the newest television station in the Plattsburgh, New York - Burlington, Vermont market. Licensed to Saranac Lake, the station broadcasts an analog signal on UHF channel 40. WCWF's transmitter is located south of the village of Moody at the top of the currently unused Big Tupper Ski Area. Its studio is located at 1958 Route 30 in Tupper Lake, New York. The station is owned by Channel 61 Associates LLC of Sarasota, Florida, which is composed of Floyd Cox, Donald J. McHone and SMC Communications, the owners of WWBI-LP.

The station went on the air on September 11, 2007, however, the signal doesn't actually reach Plattsburgh or Burlington, nor does it reach Montreal, where Burlington/Plattsburgh stations get many of their viewers from. [http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=41] This will be a great disadvantage for WCWF, in which they would need to rely on cable coverage in Burlington and Plattsburgh (a moot point for now, as the station carries the same schedule and ads as WWBI), as well as approval from the CRTC to be carried on cable systems in Montreal.

WCWF applied for its construction permit on September 22, 1995. The FCC approved it on October 4, 2004.

Digital television

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 [http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html] , the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on or before February 17, 2009, which is the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, WCWF will be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").

tation Future

Up until The CW's launch on September 18, 2006, it was unknown if there would be an affiliate in the Plattsburgh / Burlington market. There were several rumors going around that could not be confirmed. It was during this time that there was talk that WCWF would sign-on and become the area's CW affiliateFact|date=May 2008. Its call letters suggest that it should be an affiliate of The CW.

However, this is not the case, since the area's primary Fox affiliate WFFF-TV switched its secondary WB affiliation to The CW, and later separated it into a digital subchannel in 2007.When WCWF went on the air, it started simulcasting WWBI-LP, an ION affiliate, while it searches for its own affiliation. [cite web|url=http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2007/071105/nerw.html |title=NorthEast Radio Watch by Scott Fybush |accessdate=2007-11-05 |last=Fybush |first=Scott |date=2007-11-05 |format=HTML |publisher=FybuishMedia.com]

External links

*TVQ|WCWF
*BIA|WCWF|TV|TV

References